Stanley Cup: Bruins look to pick up pieces

Wednesday

Jun 26, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Bud Barth

Winning makes a nice memory, but losing sticks with you forever.

Defenseman Andrew Ference expressed those sentiments, if not those exact words, when the Bruins were just starting their playoff run what seems like eons ago. Ference played for the Calgary Flames when they lost the Stanley Cup to Tampa Bay in seven games in the 2004 finals, and he was with the Bruins for their successful run in 2011.

Now he has returned to the dark side, and his Boston teammates know exactly what he meant back in April. They know how long Monday night’s shocking, 3-2 loss to the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks in Game 6 of the finals will live in their psyche.

“Forever,” answered Johnny Boychuk, who was Ference’s defensive partner since the first-round opener against Toronto. “I mean, you are going to remember forever. You remember winning it, but I think you remember losing it a little bit more now that we have had that happen.”

Boychuk and Ference were on the ice for Dave Bolland’s shocking winner with 59 seconds left, which came 17 seconds after Bryan Bickell tied it with 1:16 remaining. Before that, it appeared the Bruins had forced a Game 7 on Wednesday night in Chicago when Milan Lucic snapped a 1-1 tie by converting a pass from David Krejci behind the net with 7:49 left.

Of course, the stunning game-winner came on a weird play — defenseman Johnny Oduya’s shot from the left point was deflected on the way in by Michael Frolik, clanged off the left post and ricocheted out perfectly to Bolland, who put it past goalie Tuukka Rask.

We’re not just talking ouch here. We’re talking double ouch, with a side order of depression.

“You never want to lose a game like this,” David Krejci said. “You never want to lose a season like this. But we did. It’s not even a point to say that it’s going to make us stronger in the future. It sucks that we lost. It’s going to hurt for a while.”

Krejci led the NHL in playoff scoring (9-16-25) but had just a goal and two assists in the six-game finals. He said it felt like the Bruins gave it away.

“Yeah, I guess so. It felt like we had it, you know? It feels like we lost it. We had a Game 7 in front of us. It was right there. I felt we played a pretty good game, and we lost it. We just gave it to them, basically.”

Patrice Bergeron, who left Game 5 with a mysterious injury but gutted it out for Game 6, revealed afterward that he played with a broken rib and torn rib cartilage and muscles, and that he suffered a separated shoulder in the first period. He said there was concern originally that he injured his spleen in Game 5, but tests were negative.

“It’s tough to, like I said, put words to describe how we’re feeling right now,” said Bergeron, who didn’t take a shot and struggled with faceoffs (winning 5 of 11). “You work so hard just to get to this point and give yourself a chance to get the Cup. And you feel like you’re right there, and you have a chance to force Game 7, and definitely it hurts.

“(You) have to give credit to Chicago. They played a great series. But at the same time, it’s the last thing you want to say. It hurts to see them hoisting the Cup.”

Although Chicago turned out to be the better team — faster, deeper, with more offensive talent — and certainly had its share of bruised and battered players, the Bruins were faced with more adversity on the injury front.

Besides Bergeron, it was reported that defenseman Zdeno Chara, who was on the ice for 10 of the Blackhawks’ last 12 goals and was a minus-6 in Chicago’s three straight wins, was playing with a painful hip injury, although he refused to discuss his health afterward.

Tyler Seguin, who had just one goal in 22 playoff games, said he was going to see doctors about what was ailing him in the series, and that he would reveal the problem at the team’s breakup session today. It was reported that he also had hip problems, possibly stemming from a congenital condition.

“I have no regrets looking back,” Seguin said. “Obviously, I would have liked to pop a few goals for my teammates, but I’ve just got to move on and learn from it, and realize I’m still young, and have a great offseason to get ready for next year.”

It’s believed that Krejci also had an injury that hampered him in the faceoff circle. Winger Milan Lucic split the draws with Krejci in Game 6 and did surprisingly well, winning seven of nine. Krejci, who had a miserable night in the circle the game before (2-11), was better (5-4) on Monday.

Nathan Horton played with a dislocated shoulder, and 41-year-old Jaromir Jagr had to retreat to the locker room twice during the game for treatment of what was reported to be a groin injury. The full news on the Bruins’ injuries should come out today at the breakup meeting.

Despite all that, the Blackhawks deserve lots of credit here. When captain Jonathan Toews, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Patrick Kane and the burly Bickell were reunited after Chicago’s 3-0 loss in Game 3, the Hawks reeled off three straight victories.

It was Toews who scored the Blackhawks’ first goal and made the pinpoint cross-crease pass to Bickell for the tying strike. That, according to Krejci, was the goal that broke Boston’s back. Coach Claude Julien called a timeout after the go-ahead goal, but it was too late then.

“The second goal hurt so bad, and we just couldn’t recover,” said Krejci, who was almost paralyzed with sadness at his locker. “Then the third one happened. It all of a sudden felt like you had so much weight on your back. You couldn’t move, couldn’t think and just couldn’t get it done.”

“Yeah, well, we’ve done it to somebody else, so we’ve got to feel how it feels being on the other side,” said Rask, no doubt referring to the Bruins’ Game 7 comeback against Toronto in the first round, the victory that propelled them the rest of the way. “This season we were known to lose a couple of leads. Even in the regular season, we were up by (multiple) goals, and we lost the games. I guess that sums it up pretty good.”

The loss also hit Seguin hard, possibly because he knows if he had done his part offensively, the outcome could have been different.

“I’ve never felt anything like this,” the 21-year-old forward said. “I’ve never cried for as long as I’ve known until tonight. It sucks, but I love the guys in this locker room, and I’m going to miss them this offseason, but I’m going to make sure I’m working even harder for next year.”

“It’s a bad feeling — bad, like an awful feeling,” added Boychuk, who had six playoff goals and led the NHL in blocked shots. “You can’t really describe it. As a player, it’s probably one of the worst feelings you can get when you are up by one goal with 1:20 left and somehow you lose the game. It’s just like a total shock.”

After it was over, the fans chanted, “Let’s go Bruins!” And when the traditional handshake line finished, the Bruins gathered at center ice and gave them a stick salute. The fans forgive them, even if they can’t forgive themselves.

“It was tough walking in that dressing room,” Julien said, “and seeing how disappointed everybody was, and to try and tell them, as I often say, there’s a lot of teams that would have loved to have been in our position tonight and getting that opportunity, and we’ve got to look at the positive.

“There’s a lot of good things to look at. And what we’ve been through and what we’ve accomplished, to me, is a credit to those guys. A loss is hard to take, but you’ve got to look a little further than that right now.”